Port Charles is a weird place. I estimate that Nelle spent about half of her weekly earnings from her part-time gig for Carly at Victoria's Secret, buying a lace bra only to leave it lying around on Sonny's mattress. She never even wore it! Her hope was that Carly would find it, but instead, Sonny found it and is finally onto her game. To say he was unhappy is an understatement.
Readers, I have been waiting for Sonny to be Sonny. When he gave Nelle the "People who cross me disappear" speech, I am not ashamed to say I was elated. This has been my question all along, "Does Nelle know who she is messing with?" Well, if she didn't before, now she does.
Sony is a mobster. Did Nelle not factor that in when she decided to get even with Carly? Has she not read the papers about Sonny's background? You'd think when she did her homework on Carly, that fact might have been mentioned.
Apparently, Nelle is more bent on revenge than on personal preservation, so she is not heeding Sonny's warning and intends to tell Carly about their fake affair anyway. Hey Nelle, pretty soon you'll be taking a ride to a really pretty place called the Pine Barrens. It's kind of like the Hotel California, you can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave.
I hope that Sonny has security cameras in his bedroom that will prove nothing happened and that Carly with b-slap Nelle all the way back to Georgia. I used to like her with Michael, but now I have decided she's not good enough for Michael.
Readers, maybe you are more patient that I am, but I am really bored with the Nelle storyline. For Pete's sake, give us the details already. What does Nelle think three-year-old Carly did wrong to her Daddy? Why is she always playing with a rattle? My fellow columnist, Liz Masters, and I do not always agree on all things GH, but we do agree on this one. The whole premise is ludicrous to me. It feels like the writers had a bullet point of an idea for a Nelle storyline and tried to turn it into a novel.
In the old days, you could miss your soap for a month and tune in and pick right up. The pace was at a snail's crawl. Why? Because there were no DVR's or Hulus or PPV stations and you had to watch it live or not see it at all. The networks got that and knew that working viewers couldn't watch daily. But here in 2017, I can watch a whole week of episodes back to back, or catch them anytime that is convenient for me, so it's unnecessary to drag things out like this.
Nelle is onto Felicia now and knows that Felicia is spying for Bobbie, but since she has apparently decided to just blow up Carly's life without dragging it out any further, it appears that whole plot was moot. Why even introduce that storyline just to drop it two days later? I shouldn't complain because at least I got to see Felicia.
Another story taking too long, in my humble opinion, is Doctor Finn's drug problems, which has been in the background of his storyline since Michael Easton came back to GH as his fourth incarnation. The disease is cured, but Finn is still popping pills. Griffin allowed Finn to treat patients in spite of seeing his hands shaking so badly he can't write on a chart or open a pill bottle. And heaven knows he certainly could not cut his last pill in half without almost losing a finger.
I realize that Griffin isn't his boss, but apparently all the sick-out nurses took some doctors with them, as only Griffin and Finn seemed to be in the hospital. Where's Obrecht? Where is Monica? Where is Lucas? Where are all the other nameless doctors who normally wander hallways?
That observation aside, the selling of GH is a storyline based in reality. I have friends and families who are in the medical field, and this exact thing is going on all over the country. Hospitals being bought and sold like McDonald's franchises by corporations that care more about making a profit than about healthcare. Boards routinely make decisions that jeopardize patients for the bottom line. In the past few years, many hospitals have closed their doors, not for a lack of patients, not because they weren't needed, but because someone decided they weren't making enough money.
I wish GH would tackle this as the genuine issue it is -- our healthcare system in crisis -- verses being an act of revenge from a deranged presumed-dead mob daughter like Olivia Jerome. Mind you, I love having Tonja Walker back on canvas, and I hope she stays; it's just that I would love for the writers to touch upon some real stats of how many Americans, especially in rural areas, don't have access to medical care. I don't think we need to worry about GH losing, though, as without it we wouldn't have a show, and I have not heard any cancellation rumors lately.
In fact, quite the opposite. I have heard rumors that since ABC finally settled their lawsuit with Prospect Park, ABC can again use the characters from All My Children and One Life to Live. Nora from OLTL is supposed to be springing up in Port Charles soon, and there are whispers that David from AMC might be paying a visit to his former wife Anna, as well, now that Vincent Iziarry has been let go from Days.
But if he comes, will he arrive in time? Does Anna actually have cancer? Dear readers, there are so may Anna rumors swirling right now, I don't know where to start. One rumor I heard was that Griffin may actually be Anna and Valentin's son instead of Duke's son. Maybe Valentin raped Anna, and that is why she ordered his assassination? Maybe she was brainwashed and didn't know she was pregnant, and someone stole her baby? I don't know.
If the David rumors are true, what do you think the reason would be? I watched AMC in the 80s, but stopped before Anna moved to Pine Valley, so I will have to count on my fearless leader Dan and all of you AMC fans to fill in the blanks for me on some possible plot lines between the two of them!
Back to Port Charles. First, I want to say that I like Charlotte very much. Wouldn't it be fun if Spencer came home for spring break and schooled his cousin in the ways of the Cassadines? But I digress. Valentin is seemingly a wonderful father to his daughter. Nina is a warm and loving stepmother to her, too. Lulu, who is her birth mother, definitely deserves a role in her daughter's life. I love storylines where there is no villain because those are the most like real life. Many people love this little girl, all of them want to parent her, and the battle of who will win custody will be hard to watch. The villains here are actually Helena and Stavros, both presumed dead. Everyone else is a victim.
I know I may be naïve, but I am not convinced Valentin is a villain. Maybe he was just a really nice hunchback who was done wrong and was abused, and he's following the "living well is the best revenge" advice. He's handsome, he's rich, and he has love in his life -- maybe that's all he is doing, flaunting his joy. I doubt it, but I'm hoping because I do so adore him.
The person I am worried about is Nina. Clearly Valentin still harbors some sort of protective feelings for Anna in spite of her rejection, and if Anna ever reciprocates, I fear that Nina will get dropped by the wayside. It's incredibly hard for a person to shake a lifelong romantic obsession. Valentin is inexplicably drawn to Anna in spite of having Nina, who adores him, in his life. But seriously, if he saw Nina in that silver Valentine's Day dress, she should be safe for a while. Yowza. What a beauty! Michelle Stafford's whole body is tinier than my thigh.
Nina walked in on Valentin holding Anna's hand at her bedside in the hospital and was a little jealous. I get that. When you think a man is wholly smitten with you and then see him fawning over another woman, it leads you to believe you have been duped. Nina has been duped before by both Silas and Ric, so she has reason to question whether or not Valentin ever meant anything he said to her, right? It's hard to think you have been replaced when someone has told you that you are irreplaceable.
As for Lulu, she hates Valentin because she assumes he killed Nikolas. But let us suppose that Nikolas shows up alive and well someday. Will Lulu forgive Valentin then and be willing to co-parent with him? I refuse to believe Nikolas Cassadine is actually dead. In my mind, he is on some island, sipping Mai Tais, incognito as Connor Bishop. Maybe he even carves wooden ducks.
Thankfully, the hospital is still open to treat Anna. Laura was the voice of reason and reminded Tracy how much GH has meant to both of their families. Tracy wants to leverage ELQ funds to buy the hospital and save it. That is a magnificent idea, except for the small point that the last time ELQ got into the medical supply business, they made faulty Enduro condoms, and half the town was impregnated.
When Tracy called the family meeting, she wanted to get rid of Olivia, but Ned insisted that she stay. Ned feels Olivia (Falconeri) is family in his heart and wants to make it official and intends to propose to her. Readers, if she says no, I will be so annoyed. Olivia has had a string of bad mobster boyfriends, Sonny, Johnny, and Julian, and finally a nice guy is interested in her. She better say yes. Besides, think of how much it will annoy Tracy to have another daughter-in-law from Bensonhurst!
The other Olivia (Jerome) is not going to be pleased with the Q's stealing GH away from her. I still don't fully comprehend why closing GH would get her revenge on Duke dying, but all the revenge plots on GH right now are extraordinarily convoluted.
Julian tried to convince Olivia to drop her plot, come back into the family fold, have him and Ava as her siblings, and be part of their happy (dysfunctional) family, but she declined. I read here on Soap Central that Tonja walker has filmed her last scenes, but not sure if that's forever, as in she will be killed off (again) or if she is just going to slink away when her scam fails.
At present, Julian is off the hook, but Ava is on the hook, as her half-sister framed her for planting the bomb in Julian's car that killed Morgan. Will she be able to clear her name before Sonny or Carly kills her?
Sonny has ditched his ankle monitor for real this time and is freely roaming the town, threatening people again. Oh, how I have missed that. Question -- if Sonny knew a guy who could crack his ankle monitor this whole time, why didn't he do that a month ago? Such self-control.
What will happen tomorrow, dear readers? Will Curtis' new friend make the mistake of trying to sell drugs in Sonny's territory? Will Felix and Epiphany get Elizabeth to cough up the details on her romance with the currently unemployed Franco? Will Liz lose her job, too, and Liz's boys will have to sell candy cars door-to-door to pay the rent? Will Nathan be able to persuade Nina to hire Maxie back at Crimson even thought Maxie absolutely deserved to be fired?
Will Google explain to me why there would be absolutely no photos of Olivia Jerome that Sam could recognize as her Mom's A.A. sponsor? Will Ric ever come home to see his daughter Molly now that it's clear Alexis isn't the most stable parent anymore? Will Kiki get pregnant after one night with Dillon and give Tracy another grandchild? Will Nina spend all day staring at the rock Valentin got her for Valentine's Day?
Only tomorrow knows, dear readers, and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows.
Tamilu
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